Airdrop capsule



Jan. 23, 1968 Y c. A. BOYD 3,365,151

AIRDROP CAPSULE v Filed July 8, 1965 I INVENTOR. CHARLES 14.80

.' ATTORNEYS.-

WTKM

United States. Patent O 3,365,151 AIRDROP CAPSULE Charles A. Boyd, West Chester, Pa., assignor to Aeroprojects Incorporated, West Chester, Pa., a corporation of Pennsylvania Filed July 8, 1965, Ser. No. 470,528 4 Claims. (Cl. 244-138) ABSTRACT OF THE DISCLOSURE The structure of an aerodynamically clean airdrop capsule is described which translates capsule release and free fall speed into rotational energy to quickly produce a high lift to provide for a soft landing for the capsule from a relatively low level high speed release.

This invention relates to an airdrop capsule, and more particularly, to a capsule or other configuration for soft landings of air delivered material.

The airdrop capsule of the present invention is designed to enable accurate low level high speed air delivery of materials to ground personnel from high performance aircraft. The ground personnel may be armed forces, personnel engaged in fighting forest fires, mountain climbers, persons isolated due to natural catastropes, etc.

The airdrop capsule of the present invention is designed to dissipate the high forward speed of the capsule when it is first released from the aircraft and store some of this kinetic energy as rotational energy. The rotational energy is then converted to lift energy to overcome the final impact velocity resulting from the free fall velocity component and the residual forward velocity component. The capsule is preferably provided with an aerodynamic configuration. Rotation inducing vanes are either present or extended from within the capsule. After a predetermined period, the vanes are jettisoned and lift inducing vanes are extended to exert the counterthrusts to the direction of motion of the capsule.

It is an object of the present invention to provide a novel airdrop capsule for soft landing of air delivered materials.

It is another object of the present invention to provide an airdrop capsule which facilitates air drops of material by high speed aircraft.

It is another object of the present invention to provide an airdrop capsule which is structurally interrelated to overcome or dissipate most of the impact velocity components.

Other objects will appear hereinafter.

For the purpose of illustrating the invention, there are shown in the drawings forms which are presently preferred; it being understood, however, that this invention is not limited to the precise arrangements and instrumentalities shown.

FIGURE 1 is a side elevation view of an airdrop capsule in accordance with the present invention immediately after release from an aircraft.

FIGURE 2 is a side elevation view of the airdrop capsule in FIGURE 1 but after a substantial amount of drop.

FIGURE 3 is a view similar to FIGURE 2 but with a portion of the structure broken away.

FIGURE 4 is a view similar to FIGURE 2 but illustrating another embodiment of the present invention.

FIGURE 5 is a schematic illustration of the functioning of the capsule after release.

Referring to the drawing in detail, wherein like numerals indicate like elements, there is shown in FIGURE 1 a side elevation view of an airdrop capsule designated generally as 10.

The airdrop capsule is adapted to be carried externally by high performance aircraft and has an aerody- .by the initial timer.

3,365,151 Patented Jan. 23, 1968 namically clean contour. Flush attachment means 11 are provided to facilitate release and separation of the cap sule and the aircraft by well known means. When released, the capsule 10 will be directed horizontally in the direction of movement of the aircraft.

The capsule 10 includes an aerodynamically clean body having separable portions 12 and 14 joined together along a seam line 16. The means whereby the portions 12 and 14 are joined and held together forms no part of the present invention and may include any desirable type of latch or locking mechanism, which when released will facilitate separating the portions 12 and 14 to provide access to the contents within the capsule 10. The capsule 10 is provided with a bullet-shaped nose portion 18 and a tail portion 20. Rotation inducing vanes 22, 24 and 26 are provided on the body portion 12 adjacent the tail portion 20.

The rotation inducing vanes may be positioned as illustrated when the capsule 10 is dropped. Alternatively, the vanes may be internally disposed and projected outwardly to the illustrated disposition after a short time period and controlled by the mechanical timer which is initiated for example by release of the capsule weight, when the capsule 10 is dropped from the aircraft. It will be noted that the vanes 22, 24 and 26 are angularly disposed with respect to the longitudinal axis of the capsule 10 so as to induce rotation of the same.

The vanes 22-26 accelerate rotation of the capsule about this longitudinal axis. After an appropriate time period, when sufficient rotational energy is stored in the capsule 10, the rotation-inducing vanes 22-26 are preferably jettisoned thereby leaving a cavity. Thus, cavity 36 in FIGURE 2 illustrates the position wherein the vane 24 was located. The mechanism for jettisoning the rotation-inducing vanes is not shown and may be any mechanical device appropriately controlled by a timer, rotational velocity sensor or proximity fuse arrangement.

For example, a typical sequence such as shown schematically in FIGURE 5, would proceed as follows. Release R of the capsule from attachment means 11 would start the aforementioned timer T which is preset to a predetermined interval related to the altitude and speed of release for a desired trajectory. Timing out of the timer T would control V the extension of vanes 22, 24 and 26 into the position shown in FIGURE 1. These vanes could be spring biased outward, arrow A, of the capsule 10 against a first stop, whose release or removal is controlled A second stop would retain the vanes in an extended position, dotted line V, where removal of that stop would permit the spring to eject the vane V out of the body of the capsule 10 in the direction shown by arrow B. Lift inducing vanes 28, 30 and 32 will move outward against the force of springs 31 responsive to the amount of rotational velocity imparted to the capsule by the rotation inducing vanes 22, 24 and 26. When the lift inducing vanes approach full extension L, they are structurally connected to remove the second stop on vanes V thereby jettisioning the rotation inducing vanes in the direction shown by arrow B.

The four-way steps may be accomplished many ways with well-known mechanical elements. The precise manner of attachment, release, and the like form no part of the present invention, which is concerned primarily with an airdrop capsule where all of the various functions are interrelated in a novel manner to produce a useful result.

As soon as the rotationdnducing vanes are jettisoned, and lift-inducing vanes 28, 30 and 32 are extended from a retracted position, a cavity 34 is exposed. Each of the vanes 28 and 32 expose a similar cavity on the periphery of the body portion 12. A greater or lesser number of vanes may be provided as desired.

The lift-inducing vanes 28, 30 and 32 are angularly orientated to induce a thrust force on the capsule in the direction of arrow 35. The direction of arrow 35 is directly opposite the direction of movement of the capsule 10 while it is falling. Thus, the vanes 28, 30 and 32, which may be in greater or lesser number than that illustrated, slow down the capsule to the point where the kinetic energy at ground contact can be absorbed conveniently by other means such as the extrusion type shock arrangement illustrated more clearly in FIGURE 3. The shock arrangement illustrated in FIGURE 3 includes a billet 38 retained within a cavity in the nose portion 18. The cavity is provided with longitudinally extending peripheral grooves 40. On ground contact, the billet 38 will be forced against the reaction surface 42 and be extruded out through the grooves 40. A more detailed explanation of the shock absorbing arrangement is set forth in my copending application Ser. No. 404,551 entitled Single Shot Energy Dissipator, filed on Oct. 6, 1964, now Patent No. 3,209,864, and the disclosure of which is incorporated herein by reference.

The function of the vanes 28, 30'and 32 may be accom plished by other devices. For example, it would be within the scope of the present invention to provide a single set of vanes constructed so that their pitch may be reversed at the appropriate time. Also, tension springs 31 may be provided to act on the vanes 28, 30 and 32 tending to move them to a position where they are disposed in their respective cavities as a function of the angular momentum of a capsule.

In FIGURE 4, there is illustrated another capsule of the present invention designated generally as 10'. The capsule 10' is identical with the capsule 10 except as will be made clear hereinafter. Accordingly, corresponding elements are provided with corresponding primed numerals.

The lift-inducing vanes 28, 30 and 32' may be provided at the ends with a small solid propellant rocket 44 which will assist in rotating the vanes so as to induce an additional force comparable to the direction of arrow 35.

The capsules 10 and 10' are hollow and access may be had into the contents therewithin by any latch or lock mechanism as explained above. The capsule 10 is preferably made from lightweight, non-corrosive materials such as aluminum. The shock absorbing arrangement and liftinducing vanes sufficiently reduce the impact speed of the capsule so that the contents within the capsule will not become damaged. Capsule 10 is essentially an expendable capsule and need not be used more than once. The structural inter-relationship of the capsules 10 and 10' facilitates aerial drops with substantial accuracy and without the necessity of parachutes. If desired, indicating means, either visual or audible, may be provided on the capsule to facilitate retrieval of the same.

The present invention may be embodied in other specific forms without departing from the spirit or essential attributes thereof and, accordingly, reference should be made to the appended claims, rather than to the foregoing specification as indicating the scope of the invention.

I claim:

1. An aerodynamically clean airdrop capsule compris ing a hollow body having means to provide access into the interior thereof and means for attachment to an aircraft, rotation-inducing vanes mounted Within the body adjacent a tail portion, means responsive to the release of said attachment means for extending said vanes into a projected rotation-inducing position for rotating the capsule about its longitudinal axis after a predetermined period of free fall of the capsule, and means for jettisoning said vanes after a second predetermined period so that the vanes are no longer effective to induce further rotation of the body, lift-inducing vanes disposed in recesses on the body and mounted for movement from a retracted, aerodynamically clean position to an extended position, and said lift-inducing vanes being oriented in their extended position to induce a lifting force on the body in a direction extending from a nose portion of the body toward the tail portion of the body.

2. A capsule in accordance with claim 1 wherein the rotation-inducing vanes when projecting from the body are provided with rotation-sensing means and means responsive to said rotation-sensing means to jettison the rotation-inducing vanes at the time where it is desired to no longer induce rotation of the body.

3. A capsule in accordance with claim 1 including a shock absorbing arrangement at the nose portion of the body, said arrangement including a billet to be extruded on contact with a ground surface.

4. A capsule in accordance with claim 1 including propellant rocket means adjacent the tips of said lift-inducing vanes to assist in the speed of rotation of the last-mentioned vanes.

References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 1,880,586 10/1932 Tiling 244138 2,640,549 6/1953 Isacco 244138 3,209,864 10/ 1965 Boyd 1881 3,273,834 9/1966 Bower 244138 FOREIGN PATENTS 1,003,132 11/1951 France. 1,105,404 6/1955 France.

FERGUS S. MIDDLETON, Primary Examiner.

ALFRED E. CORRIGAN, MILTON BUCHLER,

Examiners.

R. A. DORNON, Assistant Examiner. 

